Candidates, parties pour almost $2 million into 49th District NY Senate race

View full sizeDennis Nett / The Post-StandardAndrew Russo, the 49th District state Senate candidate, campaigns door to door in the Meadowbrook neighborhood of Syracuse with his friend Ryan McMahon, a member of the Syracuse Common Council.

Editors' note: This story was written by staff writers Glenn Coin and Paul Riede.

Syracuse, NY -- Nasty campaign ads, including some from a mysterious attack group with a Virginia address. Nearly $2 million committed to the race by the candidates and their parties. An unconventional Republican running against a Democratic incumbent in a state Senate district split nearly evenly. The balance of Senate power at stake.

That’s the drama in the race for the state Senate’s 49th District seat held by three-term incumbent David Valesky.

Republican challenger Andrew Russo’s camp portrays Valesky, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, as a career politician controlled by corrupt party bosses. Valesky’s campaign has attacked Russo as an outsider who spent a decade away from Central New York and didn’t vote for 14 years.

Both major parties have targeted the district. As of Wednesday, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee had spent more than $332,000 on Valesky, and the Republican Senate Campaign Committee had spent about $406,000 on Russo.

In the three weeks leading up to the most recent campaign filings, more than $500,000 in contributions flowed into the 49th District race – which is more than all but one other Senate race. (About $613,000 was raised in an open seat in Western New York.)

The stakes are high: Democrats have a two-vote majority in the Senate, and those senators elected next week will draw up districts that will remain in place for a decade. According to a pollster who conducted a survey in September, the 49th District race is up for grabs.

Valesky, who won a three-way race in 2004 by fewer than 800 votes, has become the only Upstate member of the Senate leadership. Russo, a concert pianist making his first run at public office, is running on a campaign of fiscal conservatism.

Both sides have shipped reams of slick campaign mailers. One state Democratic committee mailer plays on Russo’s years in Europe by juxtaposing a dark, grainy snapshot of Russo sporting a beret with the question: “When Albany party bosses asked pianist Andrew Russo to run for office, he had a one-word answer ...”

On the flip side: “Oui!”

Russo said he spent five years getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Juilliard School in New York City, then spent another five years building his career as a concert pianist in the United States and Europe, where he had an apartment in Paris. He decided to return home several years ago, and became the director of music at LeMoyne College.

“There’s a great effort to bring people back to Central New York, after they’ve gone away to school, and raise their families,” Russo said. “That’s exactly what I’ve done.” Russo and his wife, Natalia Chepurnova, live in Fayetteville and have two children.

Mailers from the Republicans, meanwhile, show Valesky on the floor of the Senate raising his hand along with fellow Democrats, including three who were under investigation for criminal and ethical allegations. The back shows thumbnail photos of six Democratic leaders under the headline, “NY Senate Democrats Rap Sheet” and asks: “How can Senator Valesky reform Albany when all of his friends are so corrupt?”

The latest television ad from Russo’s campaign says, “It’s time to throw out Valesky and his cronies.”

View full sizeDennis Nett / The Post-StandardRebecca Fishaut, of Manlius, speaks to state Sen. David Velasky (D-DeWitt) in the lobby of National Grid's auditorium before the start of a Vera House campaign event. Velesky is running for re-election in the 49th district.

Valesky, who served for six years as a legislative aide to former Assemblyman Michael Bragman, said he is independent from the Democratic leadership. He points to his “no” votes on the proposed soda tax and a farm bill, both of which were supported by Downstate Democrats.

“I helped lead the defeat on the farm labor bill, which would have had a job-killing mandate on Central New York farms,” said Valesky, who lives in Oneida. He and his wife, Julie, have three children.

Some of the full-color campaign mailers attacking Valesky for “wasteful spending” have been funded by a group called Common Sense, which uses a Glen Allen, Va., address. Russo and Valesky say they know nothing about the group.

The brochures do not mention Russo’s name or the campaign, but they criticize some of Valesky’s votes and give him a “failing grade” on education policy. An officer at the company at the Virginia address — CT Corp. System, a corporation services company — said it had no connection with Common Sense.

The group’s website is registered to Strategic Advantage International, a political consulting and public opinion management firm in New York City. The president of that company, Daniel Odescalchi, is also the communications director for Republican congressional candidate Chris Gibson, who is running in the 20th District. The firm also helped with Doug Hoffman’s campaign for Congress last year.

Odescalchi refused to provide any information about Common Sense. When asked whether the group is registered with the New York State Board of Elections, he responded, “I can’t help you with that.”

State election records don’t show any registered group using that name and spending that aggressively.

John Conklin, a spokesman for the state board of elections, said a group aiding or promoting the success or defeat of a candidate in a state election must register if it spends more than $1,000 in the effort. Failing to register is a violation of election law and carries a fine of up to $500. He said the board would investigate the group if it received a formal complaint, but it has not.

Among Valesky’s top contributors is the Empire State Pride Agenda PAC, which gave $9,500; and Ted Snowdon, a New York City philanthropist and gay-rights advocate. Valesky voted in favor of a failed bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York. Valesky also received a $9,500 contribution from the Pepsi Cola Bottlers PAC. And he received a number of large contributions from New York City real estate companies — as well as $3,993 from the Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors.

Russo received a number of big contributions from road construction companies. He got $9,500 each from Paul and Frank Suits, owners of Suit-Kote, a Cortland paving company, and the same amounts from each of their wives. Another executive with the company, Brian Renna, contributed about $8,500. Suit-Kote and other Upstate paving companies — including Lancaster Development of Richmondville, whose executives donated $8,000 to Russo — say that Valesky and the Democratic Senate have steered construction work Downstate, and that a Republican Senate would restore the balance.

A Siena College poll last month showed Valesky ahead about 50 to 40 percent, with 11 percent undecided. The margin of error was about 5 percentage points. Pollster Steven Greenberg said then that the race could become much closer as Russo’s name became more widely known.

On hot-button issues, including property taxes, the state budget and government ethics reform, voters saw virtually no difference between Russo and Valesky.